March 31, 2011

Morning Wrap

Verrilli Grilled: Yesterday's confirmation hearing for Solicitor General nominee Don Verrilli Jr. showed that Republicans are still angry over the Obama administration's decision to no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act. We had the story on the hearing for Verrilli and two other Justice Department nominees here last night.

Budget Breakthrough? The bipartisan bickering over the federal budget may be morphing into real negotiations between both parties with a goal of $33 billion in cuts, according to this story in The Washington Post.

Bloch Sentenced: A federal judge in D.C. yesterday sentenced former special counsel Scott Bloch to one month in prison for contempt of Congress, concluding a lengthy debate over whether the conviction carried a mandatory prison sentence. Mike Scarcella's report is here. An appeal is likely.

Law School Standards: The Association of American Law Schools is raising concerns about the American Bar Association's revamp of law school accreditation standards, our Karen Sloan reports here. Tenure and distance learning are among the sticking points.

Scalia's Lead Foot: News of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's recent fender-bender did not surprise those who knew of his reputation for fast driving. Justice David Souter even made a crack about it during oral an argument in 1996, as we reported here yesterday. The story first appeared in our newsletter Supreme Court Insider.

Mum Mormons: You might expect that the debut of a Broadway musical that mocks Mormons would draw angry criticism from church leaders. But The New York Times reports here that the church, for the most part, is ignoring the musical "The Book of Mormon," instead trying to benefit from the publicity. Some Mormons are even attending the show and liking it.